A nine-year dean of the University of Massachusetts Amherst's business school who now holds the flagship campus' top development role will take over next week as the interim chancellor of UMass Dartmouth.

UMass President Marty Meehan announced Tuesday that Mark Fuller, the vice chancellor for advancement at UMass Amherst and former dean of UMass Amherst's Isenberg School of Management, will step into the Dartmouth job on Jan. 19.

Fuller will take the reins from Mark Preble, who has been leading the 8,500-student campus since last summer. Former chancellor Robert Johnson resigned after three years in the job to become president of Western New England University.

The UMass Board of Trustees does not need to sign off on Meehan's interim chancellor selection, and a UMass spokesman said a search for a permanent Dartmouth chancellor is not currently scheduled, which leaves the length of Fuller's run open-ended for now.

Describing himself as "inspired by UMass Dartmouth's mission, energy, and momentum," Fuller said in a statement that he looks forward to getting to know the school community and learning from students, faculty and South Coast neighbors.

"As a first-generation, working class student and a young man who was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life, it took the guidance of mentors and hands-on work experience to chart my academic and career pathway," he said. "I was fortunate to find both at the University of Arizona, and those experiences very much informed my choice to pursue a career in public higher education."

Fuller has been at UMass since 2009, leading the Isenberg School until he moved on to the vice chancellor role in 2018. Before coming to Massachusetts, he was a professor and information systems department chair at Washington State University and had previously taught at Baylor University.

He holds bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from the University of Arizona and, according to UMass, is a first-generation college graduate who, with support from his widowed mother, dealt with the cost of his education by working as a cardiac technician and taking out loans.

"UMass Dartmouth is a university to watch, and at this time of an unprecedented public health challenge, proven, passionate leadership is needed to continue this exciting trajectory and provide a world class education to our students," Meehan said. "UMass Dartmouth is also the heart of the South Coast region, and Mark Fuller understands the university's economic impact on the community."

UMass Dartmouth is home to the only public law school in Massachusetts and offers more than 90 undergraduate programs. Half of its undergrads are first-generation students, and 41 percent demonstrate the degree of financial need that makes them eligible for federal Pell grants.

UMass Trustee Stephen Karam, a principal of the Karam Financial Group in Fall River, said the school serves as a major regional employer, a talent pipeline for local businesses and "a key partner in the economic development of the South Coast."

He said Fuller "has a proven record of working closely with business leaders to build a university community that values the input of industry and ensures that students graduate with the skills they need for the high-wage, high-growth jobs of the future."